McCLEAN, VA--U.S. machine tool sales in February totaled $199 million, that's a decrease of 4.3 percent compared with January sales and a decrease of 32.4 percent compared with February 2000 sales.

According to the Association for Manufacturing Technology and the American Machine Tool Distributors' Association (AMTDA), machine tool sales for the first 2 months of 2001 totaled $406.9 million--32 percent less than sales during the same period in 2000.

"Consumption in February clearly reflects the general economic picture with few indications of the trend changing in the short term," says Ralph J. Nappi, president of the AMTDA.